North Korea punishes flood victims for failing to rescue leaders’ portraits

North Koreans bow beneath portraits of the late leaders Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang, Dec. 17, 2013.

North Korea is punishing residents who escaped with their lives from rising floodwaters but failed to save portraits of the two previous leaders that hang on the walls of every home, residents told Radio Free Asia.

People who lost their party membership cards – to be on one’s body at all times – in the disaster are also being penalized, they said.

The cult of personality surrounding North Korea’s Kim Dynasty is so woven into society that by law, every household must display framed portraits of leader Kim Jong Un’s late predecessors – his father Kim Jong Il and grandfather, national founder Kim Il Sung.

The portraits must be hung in a prominent position in the main living space, and should be kept dust-free. They are the most important items in the home, at least as far as the government is concerned, and should be protected at all costs.

Flooding after record-breaking heavy rains, in the city of Sinuiju, North Pyongan province, July 28, 2024. (KCNA via KNS/AFP)

But when floods ravaged the northern province of Chagang in July, many people who escaped left the portraits behind as their homes were destroyed.

The government is investigating the survivors and punishing those who failed to secure the portraits, a resident in the province told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

“On the 9th of last month, [authorities] organized a flood damage investigation group,” she said. “This group intensively investigated the property that residents took with them when they abandoned their homes and evacuated during the flood.”

Rising floodwaters

She said that the people under inspection did not know the purpose of the survey, so they explained clearly what they took with them, such as necessities like food and sets of clothing.

“They couldn’t have imagined that their honest account of the situation could be used against them, causing great misfortune,” the resident said.

She explained that on the night of July 27 and the early morning of July 28, the streams near the city of Kanggye overflowed and destroyed several homes.

“All the men were mobilized to carry sandbags, and only women were left at home, barely able to save a few belongings,” she said, adding that the government took measures to help the victims, including by sending some children and the elderly to Pyongyang so they could recuperate.

“The government distributed necessities to the remaining residents, and even held birthday parties for infant children,” she said.

It was then that some of the residents felt comfortable enough to explain to the authorities that they were not able to save the portraits that hung on their walls – or their Workers’ Party of Korea membership cards.

Membership in the party is seen as a great honor and confers privileges such as eligibility for favorable homes, schools, and jobs. The membership card, like the ex-leaders’ portraits, is also meant to be protected, and a waterproof sleeve holding the card is supposed to be worn on each member’s person at all times.

Heroes

The government has been known to lionize those who risk personal safety to rescue the portraits in emergencies.

State media reported in 2012 that the government posthumously honored 14-year-old Han Hyon Gyong with the Kim Jong Il Youth Honor Award when she drowned attempting to save the portraits from her home during a flash flood.

Her parents, teachers and youth league leaders also received awards, and her school was renamed after her.

Some of those who failed to save the portraits face punishment but others will be forgiven, another Chagang resident told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely.

Seo Jae-pyoung, then secretary general of The Association of the North Korean Defectors, holds a Workers’ Party membership card case, April 22, 2016. (Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)

The determining factor, he said, was whether or not they took other treasured items.

“Those who took family property, things like televisions, for example, but did not take the portraits, are being exiled to rural areas,” he said.

Everyone who lost their membership cards are all being punished regardless of the reason, he said. “This is because they ignored the principle that party membership cards must be worn on the body at all times,” he said.

Rank and file party members who lost their cards are demoted to candidates for party membership. But if it is a party official who lost the card, the authorities expel them from the party on the spot, the second resident said.

“Party members who were punished for being unable to save their party membership cards are saying it is an injustice,” he said.

He described how four police officers wrote an excuse letter saying that they hid their party membership cards inside one of their homes because they were called on nighttime emergency duty to deal with the rising floodwaters.

They were concerned that the cards could be damaged by the rain, but then when the house was destroyed, so were their cards.

“Their letter said that being cast out of the party was too excessive and they submitted it to the flood damage investigation group,” he said, adding that others in similar situations also sent letters to plead their case.

“But the flood investigation group is not providing any response,” he said.

Translated by Claire S. Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.

 

By:RFA